Those Nights
by RJ O'Hara
Summary: Songfic. Elliot stands outside Olivia's house on the fifteenth anniversary of her departure, wanting to call just to hear her voice... EO.


**_Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this. Not the song, or the show... As much as I might like to. ;) _**

**_EDIT: Song is by Skillet, by the way. Sorry for not mentioning that.  
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He picked up the phone and looked at its glowing screen. He ran his fingers through his cropped black hair and sighed. He looked up at the dark house and sighed again.

He stood in the middle of the street, looking up at a small, two story house with blue paint and white curtains. The black sedan out parked out front was the same black sedan that he used to ride in with her. He smiled at those memories.

It had been fifteen years ago today. For the past fifteen years he did the same thing every night. He stood outside her house and wanted to call her. He wanted to, but he never could bring himself to actually do it.

_But tonight, tonight's different_, he kept telling himself over and over again. Tonight was a special night, the fifteenth anniversary of her departure. Fifteen years since he'd last talked to her.

Suddenly, a light on the second story was flipped on. Elliot smiled as he watched the figure stretch and yawn. "Olivia…" he whispered to himself.

Just as suddenly, he found himself dialing her number and putting the phone to his ear. It rang once before he heard it ring inside. He watched her as she sighed and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she said.

Elliot smiled.

"Hello?" she said again.

He just stood, not saying anything. He watched her silhouette move behind the closed white curtains.

"Hello? Who's there?" her tone was becoming more and more irritated.

He still didn't say anything. He just loved hearing her voice after fifteen years.

"I'm hanging up," she finally said.

"Wait!" Elliot shouted into the phone.

"Who is this?" Olivia asked.

"Do you remember when I used to tell a stupid joke, and you'd laugh anyway?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone. He kept watching her figure in the second story window.

"And how we would stay in the crib all night, not wanting to go home. We would just try to forget all of our problems at home. We'd get through them together."

Still, she didn't say anything.

"We'd go on case after case all night long. We faced it all."

_I remember when  
We used to laugh  
About nothing at all  
It was better than going mad  
From trying to solve all the problems we're going through  
Forget 'em all_  
'_Cause all those nights we would stand and never fall  
Together we faced it all_

"Elliot?" she said breathily.

He nodded, though she couldn't see it. "Look out your window."

She did as he told him, pulling back the white curtains in her bedroom. She looked around in the dark for a brief minute before spotting Elliot in the middle of the street.

He smiled. Her auburn hair was long again and her olive skin was just as vibrant as ever. She wore a dark brown satin nightgown with thin straps and blue frills. Her face lit up when she saw him.

Hanging up the phone and dropping it, she disappeared from the window. Elliot hung up his phone, and made his way closer to her door.

The front door flung open and Olivia rushed out and into Elliot's arms. Tears were flowing down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around his torso. He held her with one arm around the crook of her waist, the other holding her head. He rested his chin on top of her head.

"El, what are you doing here?" she asked, not moving from his firm, delicate grasp.

"Do you remember when we'd stay at the precinct all night, just because we liked each other's company and we didn't want to go home to another fight? We'd stay up all night and watch TV in a dark room, or blast the radio. Or sometimes, we'd just have them on and not watch or listen to it at all, but talk instead. And when Kathy left, we'd do that more often. Do you remember those nights?"

He could feel her mouth move into a smile on his chest. "Yeah, I do," she replied.

"I came to tell you that those nights were the nights that kept me alive."

_Do you remember when we'd  
Stay up late and we'd talk all night  
In a dark room lit by the TV light  
Through all the hard times in my life  
Those nights kept me alive  
Listen to the radio play all night__  
Didn't want to go home to another fight__  
Through all the hard times in my life  
Those night kept me alive_

Olivia untucked her head from under his chin and looked up at him. Oh, god how he'd missed those beautiful brown orbs.

"If you hadn't been there, if we hadn't of spent those nights together… I don't know what I would have done."

"Oh, El…" she whispered.

He looked at the black sedan in her drive way. He nodded towards it. "You still have that old car."

Olivia looked back at it and nodded. "Too many happy memories to get rid of it."

Elliot smiled. "How 'bout when we used to drive that thing all around town, and out of town. To escape. You remember those times, too?"

"Of course I do, El. Why are you asking me these things?"

"Because those eleven years that we were partners were the best eleven years of my life. And I wish I could get it back. I wish I could get you back, Liv." He whispered the last sentence, to make her strain to hear him.

_I remember when  
We used to drive  
Anywhere but here  
As long as we'd forget our lives  
We were so young and confused that we didn't know  
To laugh or cry  
Those nights were ours  
They will live and never die  
Together we'd stand forever_

Olivia looked back up at him. Her eyes apologized. "How can I make up the past fifteen years to you?"

"Come back. Come back home. With me."

She shook her head. "I don't know, El. It's been so long, and everybody there… everyone will…" She stopped.

"Everyone will what?" he urged her to go on.

"I don't know. I'm just afraid to go back."

He scooped her up in his strong arms. Her eyes were shocked, but she went along with it and wrapped her legs around his waist. Elliot looked up at her.

She moved her face closer to his, her lips parted slightly. Then he firmly pressed his lips against hers and kissed her. He kissed her once… twice… three times before they finally broke apart and he looked at her.

"Then never leave me ever again, Livvie," he whispered tenderly. "Make those nights come back."

Tears began to run slowly down Olivia's cheeks. "I'm sorry. I promise to never leave you ever again, El. I promise," she replied

_Those nights belong to us__  
There's nothing wrong with us  
Those nights belong to us_

_I remember when we used to laugh  
And now I wish those nights would last

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_**A/N: I got a writers block and put on some music, hoping it'd help. Then this came out... I couldn't help it. D:**_


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